Skip to main content

Life of Pi Movie is a Visual Poetry

By

Life of Pi based on Yann Martel novel which won the man Booker prize for fiction in 2001 is a compelling tale of hope & survival. The film starts off where the adult Piscine Molitor Patel (Irfan Khan) narrates his story to the writer ( Rafe Spall). Piscine Molitor Patel named after a swimming pool in France lives with his family in puducherry. His father owns a zoo, the initial encounter with the bengal tiger Richard Parker is fascinating telling us deeply about the understanding of animal psychology.

 
Piscine Molitor Patel changes his name as Pi because people in his school call him as pissing patel. Pi is raised as a Hindu but he is also introduced to Islam & Christianity, the initial 30 minutes of the film meanders slowly where Pi tries to understand the different religious philosophies & also experiences his first love. Pi‘s father is forced to sell his zoo and he carries the animals to be sold in Canada, the ship in which they travel sinks in pacific ocean leaving only Pi, injured zebra, hyena, orangutan & the ferocious bengal tiger Richard Parker. Pi is forced to survive with the tiger which kills all the other animals.

 
The next 227 days of survival, hope, passion, courage, grit with Richard Parker in a life boat is told in a gripping manner with amazing & spectacular 3 D visuals. Debutant Suraj Sharma as the younger Pi is brilliant; the bengal tiger Richard Parker a mix of computer graphics and real tiger and you are not quite sure whether the tiger is a real one or computer generated. 3 D is a technology & it is only as good as the script, life of Pi is an example of how a good story gets translated into an extra ordinary film through 3D with stunning & fabulous visuals.


The climax is open ended where the insurance officers find Pi story a hard one to believe & they ask him to narrate what exactly happened. Pi narrates another story of sharing the lifeboat with his mother, a sailor with a broken leg, and the ship's cook. In this story, the cook kills the sailor to use him as bait and food. Pi's mother pushes him to safety on a smaller raft & the cook stabs her as she falls overboard to the sharks. Later, Pi returns to grab the knife and kills the cook.


The writer Rafe Spall) analyses the similarities between the two stories: the orangutan was Pi's mother, the zebra was the sailor, the hyena was the cook, and Richard Parker, the tiger. Pi (Irfan Khan) asks him which story the writer prefers; he chooses the story with the tiger, to which Pi responds, "And so it is with God". Irfan Khan as the older Pi is terrific, Tabu as Pi’s mother with a minimum screen time underplays her role with wonderful subtlety & Adil Hussain as Pi’s father has also done a commendable job.

 
Life of Pi is a visual feast which also strikes an emotional chord with the viewer. Hope, desperation, courage, joy, happiness & enlightenment has never been portrayed like this before in 3D. Ang Lee take a bow; it's a bravura piece of filmmaking. It’s a must watch for people who love sheer visual poetry on screen.

 

Running Time: 127 Minutes

 


Labels:

Comments

Post a Comment

Popular posts from this blog

Helping an Employee Who’s Struggling with Postpartum Depression

By
Going back to work is tough for any new parent, but the transition is especially difficult for those suffering from postpartum depression. (Remember, postpartum depression affects both women and men.) If you manage someone who has recently had a baby, pay close attention to how they’re doing — a parent’s struggle doesn’t always show on the outside. Some people may overcompensate by working too hard, while others may show a loss of enthusiasm. Familiarize yourself with the services your firm offers — which may include groups for working parents, health care coverage for counseling, or post-natal yoga or meditation classes — so that you can help your employee access support. Offer options such as flex time, telecommuting, gradual return, or peer mentoring. In fact, it’s a good idea to offer these things to all team members so that the new parent doesn’t feel singled out. Find ways to make supporting employees and their mental health part of your culture. Adapted from " What Managers...
2 comments
Read more

Stamp your documents with QR Code (Free)

By
The power of a digital document - on paper. Stamp your documents with a QRdoc code and unlock the power of digital features like getting the latest version of the document.  This is a free service offered by QRDoc.io  https://qrdoc.io/ 
Post a Comment
Read more

If Your Team Is Overwhelmed, What Can They Stop Doing?

By
Project overload is real. But as a leader, it can be hard to tell whether your team needs more resources or just could be working more efficiently. Start by asking people to identify their key activities and how much time they spend on them in a typical week. Use that data to assess workloads and priorities. Consider which tasks the team could stop doing and which might benefit from having their process rethought. Pay special attention to low-value projects that have to get done but that take up an inordinate amount of time. Are there ways to simplify the workflows to reduce the amount of time your team spends in these areas? And last but not least, look for tasks that simply can be done more quickly. If your team is still struggling after these steps, it might be time to hire more people. Adapted from “What to Do If Your Team Is Too Busy to Take On New Work,” by Dutta Satadip
13 comments
Read more